Timing question

[loyall]

I think I know the answer to my question. But just to be sure, is it possible to root a top-cutting in fall and winter? Or will it only be successful in spring and summer? Does the genus matter? How about Notocactus?

[jerrytheplater]

Is it an emergency that you want to do it now? Spring is by far the best time.

[anttisepp]

I do it usually to save time for growing season. In spring plant has nice "waiting" roots and begin to grow as nothing happened.

[loyall]

Is it an emergency that you want to do it now? Spring is by far the best time.

Thanks Jerry. There is no urgency. You are saying what I assumed. I am, however, confused by Anttisepp's post.

[jerrytheplater]

This is what I think Anttisepp is saying, Take the cutting now, it won't hurt. Saves time in the spring and gives the plant a head start in the spring.

[loyall]

Thanks again Jerry. I don't mean to put you in the position of explaining someone else. But here is what I was thinking. My past experience with cuttings is a three month wait for roots to appear; then I plant. I might expect that if I take a cutting in February, roots might appear by May; then I could plant. I wonder if antissepp is saying to take a cutting in September, and roots will appear earlier, perhaps January, February or March. The cutting takes no time; it is waiting for the roots to appear that takes time. My inclination is to wait unless I can get roots significantly earlier by cutting now.
Since neither of you mentioned it, I assume a columnar notocactus with a very narrow base is a good candidate for a topcut to create a better-looking sturdier specimen.

[loyall]

So... no one else has chimed in to support taking cuttings in fall and winter, as anttisepp recommended, so I am assuming most experienced growers do not recommend taking cuttings in fall or winter. To be clear, soonest rooted cutting is my desired outcome.

[jerrytheplater]

In another post recently, viewtopic.php?t=48533 Greenknight, (Spence) says he transplants and repots now in the dormant season to get a jumpstart on the growing season. His is short being up north. Since they are dormant, they get to callous and even send out root buds while waiting for spring and the resumption of watering. Its making me think about it.

[greenknight]

Cuttings often take a long time to root, and cuttings with a large cut surface need to heal for quite a while before you should even try to root them. If you take the cutting now, it might not root until spring, but that's okay, they can live a long time without roots. Some species might even not root until the next year.

[loyall]

Good food for thought. Thanks for the advice.

[Steve Johnson]

Hi loyall,

I rarely spend time in the Cuttings & Offsets forum, so my apologies for not seeing this sooner...

Our horticulturalist-in-residence MikeInOz uses this approach to rooting:

I do use sulphur to dust large cuts. The trick is to properly season the cut. I normally sit the plant upside down in an airy shed until the wound is quite hard and the plant body dehydrated a bit then sit in a styrofoam cutting box on dry sand with a touch of humus in a warm slightly shaded spot. Lightly misting now and then seems to stimulate rooting, then when the roots have broken, a good soak followed by complete drying and repeat the cycle. I find it's good to let the plant root in the box for a whole season before lifting.

I don't know what qualifies as "large", although I believe his approach can be adapted to smaller cuttings. ("Small" and "large" are relative terms anyway, so you'll have to figure out what they mean to you.) If you keep your cutting in the house over fall and winter, keeping it upside down to form a callus is important, but will require decent airflow around it. And yes, a liberal layer of sulfur powder on the exposed surface while it's freshly-cut. Not sure if you'd have to go so far as to make a styrofoam cutting box, and IMO a pot works just as well. You can find potting sand on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Original-Ingredi ... r=8-6&th=1

A touch of humus mixed with the potting sand is good, but optional. Once again, if you keep your cutting in the house during fall and winter, daytime warmth will give it a leg up on the rooting process. With that said, Mike has many years of experience rooting cuttings, so follow his advice on occasional light misting and giving your cutting plenty of time to root before you lift it out of the potting sand. He said "a whole season", so I'll take it to mean a year from the time when you install the cutting in your rooting pot (or styrofoam box as the case may be) to the time when you can lift it out.

[loyall]

Thank you Steve. You are correct to presume that my few cacti are indoor cacti and hence live on a cool winter window sill in a warm apartment. My Notocactus schlosseri is much narrower at its base, so I intend to risk a topcut in order to create a sturdier more aesthetic specimen. My take away from your post is that as long as I follow the outlined procedure, I may as well cut now in November because there is no benefit to waiting until February or March to begin. Do I correctly understand?

[Steve Johnson]

My take away from your post is that as long as I follow the outlined procedure, I may as well cut now in November because there is no benefit to waiting until February or March to begin. Do I correctly understand?

Yes, but keeping the cutting on a cool windowsill defeats the purpose. Once it has formed a callus and you place it in your rooting pot, find a spot in your apartment where it can get some daytime warmth during the fall and winter.

[greenknight]

I remember coaching you through this process before, loyall, that's why I addressed only the timing question. That's good advice from Steve, though, I agree with everything he posted.

[loyall]

Right Spence. I succeeded, not once but twice, before with your great coaching. You say start now rather than waiting. Correct?